The business community has been called upon to attend the forthcoming Chinese import and export fair, better know as the ‘Canton Fair.’

The call was made during a meeting organised by the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Chinese embassy in Kigali, yesterday, to inform the business community about the exhibition.

The Canton Fair is the largest trade fair in China with the largest assortment of products, the largest attendance, and the largest number of business deals made.

It runs from October 19 to November 4 in three phases: Phase one runs from October 15–19 and would benefit exhibitors of electronics, household electrical appliances, machinery, lighting equipment, hardware and tools, vehicles and spare parts, building materials, chemical products.

Phase two, from October 23 to 27, is for Consumer products, decorations goods, and gifts products, while the final phase, from October 31 to November 4, is for textiles and garments, shoes, office supplies, cases and bags, recreation products, medicines, medical devices, and health products .

This is the 120th edition of the exhibition that occurs in Guangzhou, China, in spring and autumn seasons each year since the spring of 1957.

It is co-hosted by the Chinese ministry of trade and commerce and the People’s Government of the Guangdong province, and organised by China Foreign Trade Centre.

Speaking at the meeting, Zhang Liyong, the economics and commercial counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Rwanda, said that the fair will present both Rwanda and China with many opportunities in form of market as well as needed products. 

"We want to promote Chinese products in Rwanda. We also want to know what Rwanda can offer for the Chinese market. We have the products, you have the market and you also have the products and we have the market,” he said, adding that with over a billion people in China, Rwanda can have a good market base for its products such as coffee and tea.

Gerald Mukubu, the deputy chief executive and chief advocacy officer at Private Sector Federation, urged local businesses to attend the fair, saying it is an opportunity for the private sector to establish more partnerships with their Chinese counterparts as well as learning from them, especially in terms of organising trade exhibitions,

"Buy tickets on time and go there to do business. It might be expensive to travel there, but I know you will benefit. The benefits may not manifest in monetary terms immediately, but it may be in terms of networking, benchmarking your activities with those of your counterparts in China and forging partnerships,” he said.

"We also want to learn more from the canton fair. Our annual trade expo takes only two weeks, so we need some lessons from this fair that runs for a month.” 

Peace Basemera, the trade negotiation and cooperation specialist at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said the fair will be an opportunity for local manufacturers to learn about new technologies.

"It is an opportunity to learn new technologies that we can apply in manufacturing to add value to our products. There are also experiences that we can learn from at the fair,” Basemera said.

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